The invention relates to nonfelting wool and a process for antifelt finishing by treating the wool with a plasma and also to an aftertreatment with a specific finishing agent.
The textile processing industry has a particular interest in reducing the felting tendency of wool, especially of raw wool or unprocessed wool. The felting of wool is customarily reduced by finishing with specific auxiliaries.
Isocyanates, especially self-dispersing isocyanates, have long been used as auxiliaries for the antifelt finishing of textiles. However, self-dispersing isocyanates, the use of which has become preferred, do not always provide a completely satisfactory antifelt finish on the treated textiles when used alone.
DE-A 198 587 34 and DE-A 198 587 36 disclose the antifelt finishing of wool by combination of a plasma treatment with an after-treatment using such self-dispersing isocyanates. To apply these self-dispersing isocyanates to the wool, it is first necessary to prepare aqueous dispersions. Since such dispersions have only a very limited shelf life, due to the ensuing crosslinking reaction of the isocyanate end groups in water, they have to be prepared relatively shortly before use for wool treatment.
DE-A 2 035 172 describes a process for the antifelt finishing of wool in which the wool is treated with a polyurethane latex liquor and the fabric is dried and subsequently cured. To be able to prepare latices suitable for finishing, organic solvents and external emulsifiers have to be used at the prepolymerization stage. The prepolymers initially obtained are subsequently fully polymerized by addition of a chain extender.
DE-A 26 57 513 discloses a process for the antifelt finishing of wool using reaction products of polyisocyanates with hydroxyl-functional compounds.
DD 5381 describes a process for preparing hydrophilic basic polyurethanes from diisocyanates, diprimary aliphatic glycols containing one or more basic tertiary nitrogen atoms in open chain, and diprimary glycols without basic nitrogen. Possible applications mentioned for such products are very generally films, fibers, sizing and hand modifying agents, animalizing agents, and sizing agents for paper.
DD 5379 describes a process for preparing hydrophilic basic polyurethanes from diisocyanates and nitrogenous glycols containing, in the chain between the hydroxyl groups, one or more tertiary nitrogen atoms in which third valencies are saturated by monovalent alkyl groups that do not have more carbon atoms than the shortest carbon chain between a hydroxyl group and tertiary nitrogen. Possible applications mentioned for such products are very generally films, fibers, sizing and hand modifying agents, animalizing agents, and sizing agents for paper.
DD 5367 describes very specific polyurethanes prepared from diisocyanates and N,N′-di[oxyalkyl]piperazines.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for the antifelt finishing of wool.